Blood-brain Barrier Building Blocks Forged from Human Stem Cells

What has been found?

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have managed to use stem cells, cells that have the potential to become many different cells in the body, to create the cells that form the blood-brain barrier.

What is the significance of this research?

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a physiological barrier between the circulating blood and the central nervous system.  It regulates what molecules are and aren’t able to move from blood to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).  For example, bacteria generally are stopped from getting access to the CSF and brain, however, smaller molcules such as oxygen and hormone are able to pass through this barrier.  In MS however, the BBB becomes more permeable and molecules of the immune system are able to pass through and it is these molecules that then cause the damage to the myelin sheath that is observed in the disease.

Therefore, being able to understand the BBB is critical in understanding the immune response in MS.  It has always been very difficult to research though – with scientists only being able to use animal models or brain tissue donated after death.  Both of these approaches have their limitations.  This advance in being able to create an artificial BBB from stem cells opens the possibility for much more useful research into how the BBB functions, how it is breached during MS and more effective testing of new therapeutics and their ability to cross the BBB.

The above summary is of the article found at the following link:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120624134823.htm